U.S. Discussing Egypt’s Halting of Ship Carrying Israeli Cargo

June 9, 1959

WASHINGTON (Jun. 8)

The United States Government is watching closely the developments concerning the case of the Danish vessel Inge Toft, which is still detained by the Egyptian authorities at the Suez Canal for refusing to unload an Israeli cargo destined from Haifa to the Far East, it was stated here today by a State Department spokesman, Lincoln White.

The State Department official said that the U. S. is discussing the situation and its implications. The discussions, he revealed, are being conducted with foreign diplomats in Washington as well as in a number of foreign capitals, including Cairo, Tel Aviv and London. At present the State Department does not yet have any precise information regarding the case and the cargo which Egypt decided to confiscate but which is still aboard the ship.

(From Cairo, it was reported today that the Danish ship is under charter to an American company, the Mediterranean Agency, of New York. The report said the United States has not yet made any official demarche to the government of the United Arab Republic, but American diplomats have begun sounding out U. A. R. officials on the question of the Israeli cargo. “Since an American firm is involved, the American Embassy in Cairo is duty-bound to try and protect its property, so long as the legality of the U. A. R. position on barring Israeli cargoes is not definitely settled,” the report explained.)